Lucas
01-14-2019, 04:09 PM
So, I've played now for 142 hours.
Let me start by saying, I LOVE this game. Don't let anything that follows dissuade you of that. If I am critical, it is because this game is in beta and I am operating under the assumption that feedback is welcomed. If it's not, then let it be enough that I love the game.
As to background, I have played MMOs for years. I started with EQ1 and played DAoC, WoW, Anarchy Online, and a parade of other, forgettable MMOs.
Travel
The thing I like the least about Project Gorgon is travel. Now, I'm not opposed to time spent on travel, as I believe it's an essential element to making the world feel like a world. However, I greatly dislike that all my travel has to be directly overseen by me pressing the buttons to move. Something akin to the Horse Routes of DAoC would be a big step up in this regard. You still need to walk to the far destination before you can get their by riding, and the locations you are given easy access to are limited.
BTW, I suspect "horses are coming" will be a reply to this, but that still requires that I direct all travel and I would prefer something with a limited amount of "hands free" travel.
Also, a short boat ride out of the docks would not hurt in making the world seem like an active, living world.
I would also like to know how these zones all knit together into a world. A loading screen that shows the entire world and the placement of zone A to zone B when I transition from zone to zone would be nice.
Player Economy
While I would prefer an auction house, I've read the dev blog on the subject and don't mind the feel they're going for, even though it's perhaps not my favorite. With that in mind, the deployment is a total disaster. There's 50 player merchants standing around, 2 or 3 little golems to tell me what they have, and even then I need to know exactly what I want.
As a werewolf I thought to myself, "Hey, let me go see what sort of gear upgrades I can buy for my toon." Good luck. First, I have no idea what any armor is called. Second, if I did know what I wanted, I then need to know every piece, visit several different merchants to see if they have it and what it costs, and that only gets me at stuff that happens to be in the local zone. I don't even bother as the barrier to shopping for something like armor is too great.
Then there's the issue of skills. Skill A is dependent on stuff created by Skill B, that's cool, except there is a real drought of available things when I go look. I have chosen to see this as an opportunity, and for me, or someone who beats me to it, it is, but it's also a significant impediment when you consider the game assumes you have access to resources created by other players, but then creates significant barriers to finding and acquiring those resources.
Zone Transitions
While I had hoped the very notions of zones was a thing of the past, I don't mind the occasional loading screen as I transition from one place to another. However, I hope that the little blue circles are not the end state. The zone transitions are an immediate break in immersion, and it is difficult to even see how one zone connects with another. When I hit the glowy bubble to Eltibule I seem to zone in with mountains at my back. How did I end up there when traveling overland? And while I'm at it, having to click on it vs. just run into a zone and have it automatically initiate the transfer is somewhat annoying.
Chat
The chat system is miserable. Perhaps the worst I've ever dealt with in a MMO. Tells are ignored not because people want to ignore you, but because they're lost in all the tabs. I don't seem to be able to change chat colors. There doesn't appear to be an easy way to navigate between custom channels in one tab without clicking (as opposed to / commands or some other shorthand).
Massive Living Space, No Furniture
This is probably a side-effect of being in Beta, but the huge structures that have like one person standing in the middle of an empty room are somewhat... jarring. The orc and mantis out by Eltibule being prime examples. Those buildings are HUGE, but inside them are just 3 people standing amidst an empty room.
Town Guards
I think the cities and castles could make do with a guard or two that might take some offense to a hostile critter following a person through the gate.
Life in the Wild
I believe the zones, though expansive, could use some more life. Small hubs of activity where there exist some NPCs to chit-chat with, not unlike the Tapestry Inn. More things like the Tapestry Inn scattered around the massive zones wouldn't go astray. If I think back to DAoC, I recall I was tripping over all sorts of small towns chock full of people (NPCs) to interact with. Same in WoW, their zones usually had several small "quest" hubs and the presence of these things makes the world feel like an active, breathing entity as opposed to a big zone for me to go kill stuff.
Work Orders... 30 days?
Not being able to repeat a work order for 30 days seems... excessive. So excessive, in fact, that makes me wonder what percentage of the player base never actually plays the game long enough to repeat a work order. And, as best I can tell, it's the only way to raise Industry. Maybe it's an intentional upper limit on that skill, I'm not sure, but something inline with vendor refresh would be better IMO.
------------
I think that's about all for now. Love the game, GREAT work Project Gorgon team. This is undoubtedly the best game I've played for years.
Lucas
Let me start by saying, I LOVE this game. Don't let anything that follows dissuade you of that. If I am critical, it is because this game is in beta and I am operating under the assumption that feedback is welcomed. If it's not, then let it be enough that I love the game.
As to background, I have played MMOs for years. I started with EQ1 and played DAoC, WoW, Anarchy Online, and a parade of other, forgettable MMOs.
Travel
The thing I like the least about Project Gorgon is travel. Now, I'm not opposed to time spent on travel, as I believe it's an essential element to making the world feel like a world. However, I greatly dislike that all my travel has to be directly overseen by me pressing the buttons to move. Something akin to the Horse Routes of DAoC would be a big step up in this regard. You still need to walk to the far destination before you can get their by riding, and the locations you are given easy access to are limited.
BTW, I suspect "horses are coming" will be a reply to this, but that still requires that I direct all travel and I would prefer something with a limited amount of "hands free" travel.
Also, a short boat ride out of the docks would not hurt in making the world seem like an active, living world.
I would also like to know how these zones all knit together into a world. A loading screen that shows the entire world and the placement of zone A to zone B when I transition from zone to zone would be nice.
Player Economy
While I would prefer an auction house, I've read the dev blog on the subject and don't mind the feel they're going for, even though it's perhaps not my favorite. With that in mind, the deployment is a total disaster. There's 50 player merchants standing around, 2 or 3 little golems to tell me what they have, and even then I need to know exactly what I want.
As a werewolf I thought to myself, "Hey, let me go see what sort of gear upgrades I can buy for my toon." Good luck. First, I have no idea what any armor is called. Second, if I did know what I wanted, I then need to know every piece, visit several different merchants to see if they have it and what it costs, and that only gets me at stuff that happens to be in the local zone. I don't even bother as the barrier to shopping for something like armor is too great.
Then there's the issue of skills. Skill A is dependent on stuff created by Skill B, that's cool, except there is a real drought of available things when I go look. I have chosen to see this as an opportunity, and for me, or someone who beats me to it, it is, but it's also a significant impediment when you consider the game assumes you have access to resources created by other players, but then creates significant barriers to finding and acquiring those resources.
Zone Transitions
While I had hoped the very notions of zones was a thing of the past, I don't mind the occasional loading screen as I transition from one place to another. However, I hope that the little blue circles are not the end state. The zone transitions are an immediate break in immersion, and it is difficult to even see how one zone connects with another. When I hit the glowy bubble to Eltibule I seem to zone in with mountains at my back. How did I end up there when traveling overland? And while I'm at it, having to click on it vs. just run into a zone and have it automatically initiate the transfer is somewhat annoying.
Chat
The chat system is miserable. Perhaps the worst I've ever dealt with in a MMO. Tells are ignored not because people want to ignore you, but because they're lost in all the tabs. I don't seem to be able to change chat colors. There doesn't appear to be an easy way to navigate between custom channels in one tab without clicking (as opposed to / commands or some other shorthand).
Massive Living Space, No Furniture
This is probably a side-effect of being in Beta, but the huge structures that have like one person standing in the middle of an empty room are somewhat... jarring. The orc and mantis out by Eltibule being prime examples. Those buildings are HUGE, but inside them are just 3 people standing amidst an empty room.
Town Guards
I think the cities and castles could make do with a guard or two that might take some offense to a hostile critter following a person through the gate.
Life in the Wild
I believe the zones, though expansive, could use some more life. Small hubs of activity where there exist some NPCs to chit-chat with, not unlike the Tapestry Inn. More things like the Tapestry Inn scattered around the massive zones wouldn't go astray. If I think back to DAoC, I recall I was tripping over all sorts of small towns chock full of people (NPCs) to interact with. Same in WoW, their zones usually had several small "quest" hubs and the presence of these things makes the world feel like an active, breathing entity as opposed to a big zone for me to go kill stuff.
Work Orders... 30 days?
Not being able to repeat a work order for 30 days seems... excessive. So excessive, in fact, that makes me wonder what percentage of the player base never actually plays the game long enough to repeat a work order. And, as best I can tell, it's the only way to raise Industry. Maybe it's an intentional upper limit on that skill, I'm not sure, but something inline with vendor refresh would be better IMO.
------------
I think that's about all for now. Love the game, GREAT work Project Gorgon team. This is undoubtedly the best game I've played for years.
Lucas